


No one here but the FBI's most unwanted

by WillowRoseBrook



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Angst, Christmas, Drabble Collection, F/M, Fluff, Masturbation, POV Dana Scully, POV Fox Mulder, Pining, Road Trips, Sharing a Bed, Smut, Trauma, we've got it all!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-19 18:37:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 7,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19362307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WillowRoseBrook/pseuds/WillowRoseBrook
Summary: I'm rewatching the X-Files, and I haven't written anything in ages, so I've started this collection of drabbles!For every episode I watch, I'll write something to go along with it.Hopefully I'll be inspired and be back writing/finishing my bigger works in no time!These are written quickly and unedited, so let me know if you find any particularly worrisome mistakes. I'm not re-watching every episode, so expect some skips! Rating posted on each chapter.





	1. S1 Ep 1: Pilot "What She Believes"

**Author's Note:**

> Rated G

When she walked through the door of his “office,” an overcrowded room in the bowels of the J. Edgar Hoover Building, she believed everything she had heard about him. His focus was undeniable, plastered on the walls, scattered across his desk. His intelligence was there too, in the way he analyzed her with one quick glance, in his eyes and in the way he spoke. And above all, she believed he had spiraled. All of that brilliance snapped, poured into UFO posters, negatives of mythical creatures. He was spooky through and through, but she couldn't bring herself to be scared of him. She was almost looking forward to their first case together, even knowing that the two of them could never truly get along.

\---

She believed the first night they were in the forest. The fluorescent light and the mechanical hum deep in the woods. He had gotten into her head. “Mulder!” she cried to him. This was all a prank. All a foolish, spooky prank. But when the figure stepped over the bridge she almost expected it to be extraterrestrial. She kicked herself the whole way back to the car, dragged by the town sheriff. She had let him eat away at her. She would have to be more careful, or she’d end up down the gutter with him. What would her parents say then?

Four full hours of her resteeled skepticism before she was at his door, panicked and unable to breathe. She dropped her bathrobe from her shoulders, stuck in her head, stuck in “What if, what if, what if,” and for a moment she believed. His fingers on her bare skin snapped her back into reality. Just bug bites. She was okay. She was okay. She buried her face in his chest and the world slowed back down as he wrapped his arms around her. She swore she would never let him see her like that again, but the belief still nagged in her brain when she checked Peggy’s watch at the crime scene.

The lab had been raided and the motel burned down, and she couldn’t do this. She believed now, not in extraterrestrials, but that something real was being covered up. They had made a mistake in sending her here if that was what they wanted. Fury bloomed in her as she followed Mulder out to the cemetery. If they had planned to take advantage of Mulder’s childlike naivety, of her fervent skepticism, if they had planned to pit the two of them against each other and bring this project down, they weren’t going to get away with it. She laughed in the cemetery because she wanted to scream and she wanted to cry, and Mulder knew it. Maybe he would be good for her. She knew she would be good for him. 

In the woods the second time she didn’t know what to believe. She was almost glad that she missed it. The look on Mulder’s face told her everything she didn’t want to know.

\---

Back in D.C., she would never admit to herself that she had believed anything in Oregon. Not that she believed in the extraterrestrial origins of the chip she handed over to the director. Not that she had ever been shaken or in doubt. But somehow despite his methods and conclusions, there was one thing she knew she believed. She believed in Agent Fox Mulder.


	2. S1 Ep2: Deep Throat "Partner"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rated G

She was going to yell at him. 

“What were you thinking!” she’d say. “You lied to me. You withheld information from me then you lied to my face, and then you put your life in danger! How am I supposed to trust you?”

“I was trying to protect-” he’d start, and she’d yell at him for that too.

“I am your partner! I’m not some little girl who needs protecting Mulder! This is my case, and my job, and my life just as much as yours!”

“You were sent here to-”

“To what? To spy on you? To debunk your case? Mulder, I just threatened a federal military operative, held him at gunpoint, to come and find you. I think we’re well past that now. God, Mulder, what did they do to you?”

“I’m okay, Scully,” he’d say. “You got to me in time. And you’ll never believe what I saw.”

 

“We’re bringing the intruder out,” they say on the radio in real time. Scully shifts in her seat, keeping the gun trained on the operative’s head. Here he comes. They’ll get in the car and turn around and he’ll bombard her with some inane UFO story. 

But he’s dirty and stumbling and dazed. And when she finally gets him into the car, she can barely bring herself to ask, “Are you okay?”, because she’s afraid of what he’ll answer.


	3. S1 Ep3: Squeeze "Mrs. Spooky"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rated G

Scully knew what it felt like to be walked all over--or at least for people to try. Being a woman in medical school wasn’t easy, and even though the FBI had recruited her directly, it wasn’t easy at Quantico either. She knew the frustration that came with unfounded doubt. Having to work ten times harder, faster, collect more evidence, keep her cool, and still be overlooked. 

 

That’s what she liked about Colton. The man was almost ruthless, but universally so. He had a desperate desire to rise to the top, and he was good enough at what he did to have a shot. He counted Dana Scully among the best, and knew that she had a shot too. 

 

They met every so often for lunch. Maybe once or twice a year. He kept tabs on their former classmates far more than she did, and he certainly let her know. Something derisive to say about Robinson’s promotion, not surprised that Steele had dropped out of the workforce to take care of his family. Sometimes she laughed, wondering what he had to say about her when her back was turned. She didn’t really need to worry; he said it to her face.

 

Mrs.Spooky.

 

She was mad at first, walking home. 

 

Mrs. Spooky.

 

She had a medical degree in her own name, she was an FBI special agent, and she was still some guy’s “Mrs.” And even then, she was  _ his  _ “Mrs.” Mrs. Spooky. It was embarrassing, after all her hard work, to end up tethered to the laughing stock of the FBI. 

 

Mrs.Spooky.

 

But then she was mad on his behalf. Because sure, Mulder was a lot. He was unconventional, he was unique. He was a little out there, but he wasn’t unhinged, and at the end of the day he wasn’t delusional. She knew he had her back, and she knew she didn’t always have his. But she smiled a little bit, because it was almost endearing, Mrs. Spooky, in a way she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Mulder finally had a partner in crime. Not that she’d ever say that to his face. 

 

But then Colton did try to walk all over her. That was the thing about universal ruthlessness. She had served her purpose to him and now she was a risk. Now she was Mrs. Spooky, interfering with his crime scene, and even worse, on her way to solving his crime. She was furious and she was ready to bring him down. Damn him to hell for ever calling her Mrs. Spooky. Damn him to hell for ever thinking she needed his help to get “out.”

 

She sighed and decided to run a bath. She knew Muder was probably somewhere out there brooding, but she needed to calm down. They could tackle this again tomorrow, God forbid Tooms struck again tonight.

 

But Mulder wasn’t out brooding; he was out working. (She would learn later that he could, and often did, do both at the same time). He arrived in the knick of time, and they put Tooms away. She was almost giddy to show Mulder the results of the metabolic panel she had insisted they run--and they were willing to let her run anything after Colton’s power trip had almost cost her own life. Mulder’s theories and hard science could be congruent. But he was barely paying attention. The close call had shaken him more than she had let it shake herself.

 

But now she understood.

 

No matter how “out there” the nature of their work, there were still lives depending on her doing her job well, with or without the support of her colleagues. And Dana Katherine Scully could do any job well. So there she decided. She would get her revenge by pushing on, no matter what anyone else said. 

 

And that was something she had learned from Mr. Spooky himself.


	4. S1 Ep5: Jersey Devil "A Life"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rated G

“Unlike you, Mulder, I have a life.”

“I have a life!”

  
  


He knew what she meant though. A conventional life. A domestic life. A life with a nuclear family, where she woke up to her husband making her eggs before dropping the kids off at school.

 

That sort of life had never appealed to him. It’s not like he’d grown up with a shining example. His

 definition of family didn’t scream “love,” and he didn’t lose sleep over it. His “life” had disappeared along with Samantha. 

 

He wondered what kind of man Scully would date. An accountant, he mused. Someone with glasses and a briefcase and the world’s most average job. Someone who was smart, but would still defer to her.

 

Someone who was the exact opposite of him. 

 

What would he and Scully be like together? The thought was entertaining enough to distract from his viewing and reviewing of beastman footprints. What kind of house would they live in? Probably something grand--but not ostentatious--in the suburbs, with a yard where the kids could play. They would have three, he thought. Two girls and a boy.

 

She would wear the pants in their relationship no doubt. Her glare could put him down in a heartbeat, and he loved it. He couldn’t imagine her giving up her job to raise her children either. Maybe he would take off a few years while they were little, and once they were in school he’d dive back in again. He could probably do a little work from home, but he probably wouldn’t mind the distraction.

 

He could really only imagine Scully calling him “dear” sarcastically. He thought he could really turn up the pet names, though, if she ever let him.

 

Maybe their bedroom would be painted powder blue. Scully seemed like the type of person to find pastel colors soothing. He couldn’t really see her wanting pets, though. Maybe a couple of fish, at least if he was the one to take care of them. He wondered if she’d object to a cat named Spooky. 

 

He wondered if Scully would be too stuffy for Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Probably not. He wondered if she had ever believed in Santa Claus herself. He could just imagine her with her little notebook, debunking the Santa myth step by step, still in her little baby footie pajamas. 

 

Mulder loved his water bed, but it seemed like the sort of thing Scully would hate. He would probably be a good husband and give in. Afterall, he would be the luckiest man in the world with her sleeping next to him. Or  _ not  _ sleeping. 

 

The phone ringing jostled him out of his fantasy. That one had been wilder than the Jersey Devil. He tried not to take a little joy out of interrupting Scully’s date to tell her there was a body in the woods.


	5. S1 Ep6: Shadows "At Liberty"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rated G
> 
> I hope you appreciate that I spent 15 minutes researching the building where the Liberty Bell was housed in the 90s for purely aesthetic reasons that were only relevant for two sentences.

 

The Liberty Bell was, predictably, closed, but she had humored Mulder’s sidequest anyway. They could still see the bell from the street through the glass paneling of the building, and the lights that illuminated it from multiple directions cast almost eerie shadows in a circle around it. She’d never seen it at night. She still didn’t know what had dragged Mulder out here right now.

 

The night had a bit of a chill to it as the Pennsylvania fall set in, and she wrapped her suit jacket tighter around her with a little sigh. 

 

“Ready to go, Mulder?” she asked.  “Or are we waiting for the ghosts of the founding fathers to come out and greet us?” Her partner wasn’t even really looking at the bell. Every so often his gaze would dart over and settle on her instead. Gauging her reaction? Seeing how long she was willing to stand in the cold? 

 

He seemed unphased by her teasing.

 

“I’m not so sure the founding fathers would be all that pleasant of people to meet. Now William Penn, maybe.” 

 

“Mulder, are you ready to go?” she insisted.

 

“Let’s just take a little walk around the park,” he suggested.

 

“Mulder, it’s a three hour drive back. We have work in the morning and it’s getting late.”

 

“C’mon, Scully. Just a little walk down to Independence Hall. I thought you would approve of my intellectual pursuits.”

 

She rolled her eyes and gave in, pulling her jacket even tighter around herself, and heading towards where Mulder was standing.

 

“Which way?”

 

“Follow me.”

 

They took off across the lawn in almost perfect lockstep, formidable given their height difference. The walk warmed her up, and for a moment she looked up at Mulder, whose gaze was focussed on the trail ahead. She shook her head, laughing to herself at his focus and eccentricties, and at her willingness to indulge him. They came to a stop in front of the hall.

 

“The place where our great country began,” he said, with only the slightest hint of sarcasm. 

 

“Mm.” 

 

“You evaded my question about an afterlife earlier.”

 

“I’d prefer not to talk about it, Mulder,” she replied.

 

They stood in silence for a moment.

 

“Alright, then what about this life? Tell me something about Scully.”

 

“Mulder,” she sighed, frustration creeping into her voice. She shifted her feet beneath her, pulling her jacket around her again. “Why now?”

 

“Come on, something benign. What about pets?”

 

“I don’t really have time for a pet,” she conceded.

 

“I have fish,” Mulder offered. “But someday I’d like a big old dog.” The breeze picked up and he seemed to notice her shiver. “Cold, Scully?’

 

“A little. We should head back to the car.”

 

He shrugged his jacket off his shoulders. 

 

“Here. I’m the one who dragged you out here.” 

 

“Chivalrous.” Her voice dripped in clearly unheartfelt sarcasm. She accepted with a taught smile and wrapped it around herself. It was warm like him, and it smelled like his aftershave. When they got back to the car, he helped her in with a hand on her back, something she didn’t need but didn’t protest. 

 

“Keep the jacket for now,” he said as he clicked his seatbelt into place. “You can use it as a pillow. I know you’re going to fall asleep on the way back.”

 

She hummed her appreciation, and didn’t even try to fight sleep as it came, lulled off by the steady pace of the road and the newfound comfort in her face pressed into Mulder’s jacket.

 

\--

  
  


“Scully,” he would say years later, when another case brought them back to Philadelphia and time had brought them closer. “I have a confession to make. I had seen the Liberty Bell before.”

 


	6. S1 Ep7: Ghost in the Machine "Fears"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rated T

Dana Scully had long ago rid herself of her childish phobia of the dark, but she felt that the fear became reasonable when trekking up the stairs at Eurisko, after all that they’d already seen. For a moment when the lights went out she thought the building had somehow gotten to Mulder. Her relief when his flashlight switched on was enough that she couldn’t be mad about his little prank. When it was all said and done, her fear of the dark was gone again, and she slept soundly in the pitch black of her home--once she had unplugged her computer and several of her appliances, at least.

 

Something that did linger, however, was her newfound fear of elevators. How Mulder hadn’t developed one as well was a mystery. He had watched the video of his old partner plummeting to death on repeat. Once was enough for her, combined with what was in hindsight their own close call. It wasn’t a problem in the day to day. Her apartment was a walk up, and the stairs to their office in the Bureau weren’t too much to handle. She and Mulder never arrived to work at the same time anyway, so her partner rarely even noticed. He made a comment once, but she had made some quip about needing to get in shape and he hadn’t brought it up again.

 

She’d used one elevator since that case. In the heat of the moment, cutting off a suspect who lived on the third floor, she had barely hesitated. Barely. After her insistence that Mulder talk to someone after that case, she knew she should consider her own advice for herself.

 

She hadn’t gotten around to it by the time they were making a call to a businessman in Tennessee, someone Mulder thought could be connected to a recent string of attacks on young women, all of whom had reported that their attacker’s skin was blue. Apparently, the one thing Mulder didn’t believe in was face paint, although his quips about the Blue Man Group had been endless on the drive out. 

 

“21st floor, Suite B,” the woman at the front desk told them, and Scully followed Mulder to the elevator, trying to keep herself calm. Twenty one stories was too many to reasonably take on foot, even in the name of fitness. Mulder kept his eyes on her as he pressed the call button, and ushered her into the elevator by stepping in front of the door.

 

“After you.”

 

“Thanks,” she replied, voice tight. She backed herself into the corner of the elevator, leaving Mulder to press the button. It lurched into its ascent, traveling up slowly, slowly. She tried to make her deep breathing inconspicuous, her gaze focussed on the doors.

 

“You okay Scully?” His voice was gentle enough that he knew the answer.

 

“Yeah, completely.” He took a step towards her, and the elevator jostled a little. She tightened her grip. “Just, uh. Just still a little shaken from that Eurisko case,” she admitted.

 

“We can take the stairs next time.”

“I’m fine, Mulder.”

 

The doors opened and she hurried out. She could feel the tension leaving her body as she took a deep breath.

 

The talk with the businessman was unproductive. He assured them that he had never met any of the young women before, and that his Saturday nights were spent bowling, not committing crime.

 

“He’s lying,” said Mulder as they closed the door to his office.

 

“That’s likely,” Scully agreed. “One of the women was his business partner’s step daughter.”

 

“Plus, you spend that much time bowling, you’re going to end up good enough to at least win a participation trophy, and that office was bare.”

 

Scully shook her head with a smile, and realized that Mulder had lead them to the emergency stairwell instead of the elevator door.

 

“Really Mulder, I’m fine,” she said, turning on her heels. “We’ve got other leads to follow up on, and it would take us forever to get down those stairs.”

 

She pressed the call button and the doors immediately open. She stepped in with an air of defiance and pressed the button for the first floor. Mulder hurried in behind her.

 

“Woah there, you were going to leave me behind.”

 

Scully didn’t respond; she just backed herself into the corner again. Mulder came to stand facing her on the diagonal, his hands casually draped on the rails on either side, blocking her view of the elevator doors that she had been focusing so hard on.

 

“You know, Scully, there’s really nothing to worry about. We saw how hard the Defense Department was working for that tech. I think our chances of encountering another ‘ghost in the machine’ are slim to none.”

 

She snorted. “I’m just scared of getting trapped in the elevator with  _ you _ .”

 

“I think I have a whole list of ways to distract you if you ever did.” His voice had a teasing lilt to it and his eyes had that glitter.

 

“Really Mulder. Name one.” Through the sarcasm, she almost hoped he would.

 

The elevator chimed and the doors swung open, back on the first floor and on solid ground.

 

“You’ll just have to wait until next time to find out,” Mulder said with a wink. Scully rolled her eyes and brushed past him out of the elevator. She thought she might be cured.


	7. S1 Ep8: Ice "'Before anyone passes judgement, may I remind you, we are in the arctic.'”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rate M for Sexual Themes/Masturbation

He dreamed about it later. It was fucked up and he was ashamed of it, but at the end of the day he had no control over his subconscious. But he couldn’t say he hated it. 

 

Adrenaline was running high and no one had slept in days. Lives were on the line. His own life. But his fingers lingered on her neck as he checked her for symptoms. It almost made him shocked that he didn’t have the worm.

 

He dreamed about it.

 

He dreamed about a version of events where they locked themselves in that room together and they were terrified and desperate and Scully reached up to kiss him and he kissed her back. He dreamed about a version of events where they were sweat-soaked for a different reason. Where he kissed his way down Scully’s neck and her hands knotted in his hair. Where he backed her up against the door and she wrapped her legs around his waist and all of the fear and isolation and that goddamn tension melted away. 

 

He dreamed about it and it made him sick. Maybe he had gone mad from the isolation, like Scully had said.

 

\----

 

Scully had long ago stopped feeling shame about her sexual desires. Better to play them out in her head than act them out in real life. So she barely paused a moment the next time she was laying alone in her bed with her vibrator between her legs and  she let herself think about it.

 

Close quarters, blood running hot. If he had kept his hand on her neck and turned her around to kiss him. It’s not like she hadn’t thought about it before. Hadn’t thought about what his body would feel like against hers, strong and hot and urgent. Nothing like the fear of one’s own mortality to get the pulse going.

 

The guilt and the anger after turning their guns on each other. The culmination of all their little arguments, hard and fast and desperate against the wall. In her fantasy the door locked from the inside instead of the out. She only thought about it once, his head between her legs in that room. Their fingers interlocked. But she thought about it well enough that she was crying out into her wrist pressed against her mouth. 

 

She could finally get the case out of her mind after that. Which was good, because most of it, she didn't want to remember.


	8. S1 Ep9: Space "Dinner"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rated G

“Who was your childhood hero?” he asked on the way back to their hotel-- a  _ hotel  _ for once, with an “h” and a concierge and free breakfast she could actually imagine herself eating. 

 

“Oh, I don’t know.”

 

“Let me guess. Marie Curie. Captain Marvel. Your mom.”

 

“Mulder.” 

 

“They say to never meet your heroes.”

 

“Are you disappointed you met Colonel Belt?” she asked.

 

“I don’t know. The shuttle lifted off perfectly. He must have been telling the truth. I can’t say I’m at all upset that we came down here, though.”

 

“Watching the liftoff was pretty amazing.”

 

A light rain started, pittering on their windshield, and it quickly increased in intensity.

 

“I don’t think I could ever be an astronaut,” Scully suddenly admitted over the noise of the rain. “You asked me if I ever wanted to. I don’t think I could put my job and life into the hands of that many people, with so little control.”

 

“I think seeing the wonders of space would be worth it.”

 

“Well according to you, there are other ways to get there,” she laughed. He chuckled.

 

“You don’t think alien abduction comes with even less control over your circumstances?” 

 

“I think they’d put me back down if I asked nicely enough.”

 

“With you? I’d believe it.” 

 

She hummed in agreement, a smile on her face. Road trips had been getting easier. They’d developed a playful banter, and they could ask each other little questions. Once she’d even convinced Mulder to play the license plate game. She’d yet to admit it, but she liked it more than flying. The Bureau liked them wasting fewer resources, and she liked not having to intentionally steady her breathing the whole flight as she counted down the seconds until landing. She’d never have been cut out for the military like her father. 

 

“Want to grab something to eat after we get back to the hotel?” Mulder asked.

 

“Sure. Chinese?”

“We did Chinese last time. Let’s see if we can find Thai.” 

 

“Not desperate to try that famous Florida pizza?”

 

“Gross,” Mulder accused, floundering for something to hit her with as she threw up her hands to block him.

 

They pulled to a stop outside the hotel and Mulder parked the car.

 

“Meet you back down here in ten minutes and we’ll find somewhere to eat?” she asked.

 

“See you then.”

 

Michelle caught them right before they left with news of the malfunction. 

 

“Looks like a NASA vending machine dinner, huh?” Mulder said as he started the car.

 

“Oh, like you would have it any other way.”


	9. S1 Ep10: Fallen Angel "Hell"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rated M for descriptions of violence, injuries, and trauma

Scully had worked forensics in medical school and joined the FBI immediately after. She’d seen her fair share of horrors. She still didn’t know what was worse, working with living victims or dead ones. There were people and images burned into her mind that would haunt her dreams forever. An eleven year old girl squeezing her weeping mom’s arm so tight as Scully performed her exam. A ninety year old woman with a bullet through her brain. A man on his wedding day.

 

But she had never seen anything like this. It wasn’t hard, slipping back into doctor mode. It was what you had to do to get through. The world was a sharp haze. Dissociation with focus. This was what she was good at. But at the end of the night, there was nothing more she could do. 

 

She didn’t cry in the car. She sat in a shocked daze. Her hands were shaking. She realized there were patches of blood on her clothes. She needed a shower.

 

Mulder. Mulder had dragged her into this. 

 

But the hospital had needed her. They had needed her. She had done what she could. But when she closed her eyes all she could see was dying men, covered head to toe in radiation burns, crying out, in so much pain that they could barely be sedated. What the hell had happened out there? The not knowing made it harder.

 

It was a disaster. She knew she wouldn’t even be able to try to sleep before catching the plane. The plane to take them away from this hell, but away without any answers. And god fucking damn it, she would have to be well dressed and sharp for Mulder’s hearing. 

 

Damn Mulder for dragging her into this. Damn Mulder.

 

She slammed her hands against the steering wheel, hard enough to hurt, before gripping it tightly. She sat in the parking lot of the motel and pulled herself back together. She took a deep breath. Mulder, damn him, had been through his own hell. And she knew he wasn’t leaving until she dragged him out.

 

She let herself into the motel room, making eye contact with Mulder as she walked through the door. He hadn’t even started to pack. 

 

“Rough night, huh?”


	10. S1 Ep 11: Eve "Alphabet Game"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rated G

They drove in silence. Then Scully started laughing. She laughed because there was no other option. It was horrified laughter, disgusted, incredulous, horrified laughter. She tried to choke it back, but Mulder joined her. They laughed until they had tears running down their faces, probably the only way they could have cried.

 

Scully didn’t think she could stomach a soda for at least a month. Their laughing fit lapsed into coughing on Scully’s part, and all fell silent. 

 

“God,” Mulder said. “Sometimes I get so caught up in what’s above us that I forget about earthly horrors.” 

 

Scully coughed in response.

 

“You okay? That isn’t the--?”

 

“No. Not a symptom of poisoning. We’ll both be fine. Digitalis is used in small amounts to treat heart disease. We didn’t drink enough to need to worry.”

 

Silence again.

 

“Do you--” Mulder hesitated. “Do you want to talk about what happened? What we...discovered?”

 

“Right now, Mulder, I want to eat something non-toxic, shower, and get to bed.”

 

“The motel for the night’s still about fifty miles away.”

 

“Then, alphabet game,” Scully said without thinking. “The one where you find the letters on the roadside signs.”

 

If Mulder was surprised he hid it well.

 

“A, “Maxtown, 5 miles.” You’re up.”

 

Scully squinted into the dark.

 

“There’s a B on the license plate in front of us.”

 

“Hey, no license plates!” Mulder complained. 

 

“Fine….. Uhh, Burger King!”

 

“I don’t see the sign.”

 

“Look, off the side of the highway on the right.”

 

“Alright. C. There’s a McDonald’s right next to it.”

 

“D. Also McDonald’s.”

 

“Cheater,” Mulder teased.

 

They were both smiling by now, frazzled, but pushing away the horrors of the day, falling back at ease, just the two of them and the car and road trip games.

 

“E. ‘Eastbound, merge right.’’

 

“F…”

 

Just their laughter and the steady hum of wheels on the road.


	11. S1 Ep13: Beyond the Sea "Christmas"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rated G

Scully got home from the hospital late. She didn’t bother turning any of the lights in her apartment on as she collapsed on the couch. The warm light of her little Christmas tree was enough.

She remembered Christmas as a child, the first one after her younger brother Charles was born. They had just moved to the Miramar base, and they had barely started to unpack by Christmas Eve. She couldn’t have been older than four, short hair pulled back with a plastic dragonfly barrette. Her whole family sat in their new living room, still surrounded by moving boxes. She and Missy had desperately wanted a Christmas tree, and after much poking and pleading, her father had finally given in and gone out to choose one with Bill. 

Her mother was still digging through boxes when they got back, searching for the Christmas ornaments that had to be there somewhere. Charlie kept crying, Scully remembered. Her mother would pause in her search for a moment to try to comfort him. He was still so small. Scully had seen the tears blooming in her mother’s eyes as she slammed the lid on yet another box in frustration. The sound woke Charlie and he began to wail just as her dad walked through the door.

“Merry Christmas,” he had cried in his best jolly voice, completely misreading the tone of the room. Missy had leapt up from the carpet, gigging with joy, helping to set up the tree, in hindsight mostly getting in the way. Scully remembered the needles prickling the back of her neck as they squeezed it by, while she stood still, watching her mother in the kitchen as she warmed another bottle for the baby.

Scully had been resolute, even as a child. 

While Missy and Bill were laughing in the living room with their dad, trying to get the tree to stand straight, she had wandered back to her room. She found her safety scissors in hers and Missy’s box, and pulled out wads of newspaper that had been keeping their possessions safe. She cut them into Christmas ornaments. Wiggly, lopsided stars. Hearts, squares, squiggles. She was so focussed that she hadn’t heard her dad enter the room.

“Watcha got there, Dana?” He stood leaning against the doorframe. Younger then, but still broad shouldered, her protector. 

“Ornaments,” she said, gathering the scraps into her arms. Her father followed her out to the living room where the tree was now straightened. Her mother was back to digging. Bill was holding Charlie in his arms, next to Missy on the couch, waiting in thinly veiled impatience.

“Don’t worry,” Scully had told her mother. “We have decorations right here.”

She remembered her mother’s sigh, the soft smile she had given to her father. He had nodded.

“Thank you, Dana. You’re a special one,” she said.

Bill took the pile from her, evenly distributing the newspaper ornaments among the family members. He made a pile for Charlie, too.

“I can do his, since I’m the big brother.”

They decorated the tree as a family. Scully remembered how warm it was, even though they were still wrestling with making the heater work. She remembered stepping back, a joyful grin on her little face, watching as Missy laughed, swatting at Bill as he reached as high as he could to hang a paper star on the very top. Her mother holding Charlie in one arm, hanging a crumpled diamond with the other. Her father had turned to her and ruffled her hair.

“You’re a good kid, Dana. I’m proud of you.”


	12. S1 Ep14: Genderbender

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rated T  
> cw: brief allusion to sexual assault

“I don’t understand where they could have gone,” Scully said once the car door was closed. Even then, the eerie feel of the place stayed with her.

 

“Up,” replied Mulder, raising his eyebrows as he turned in his seat to back up and turn the car around.

 

“Mulder,” Scully protested, voice low. But it lacked fervor. She shook her head. “I really don’t know what we’ve seen these last few days.”

 

“Me either,” admitted Mulder. “Even with what I saw down in the cellar.” Then his voice took a teasing quirk. “Although I do know one thing I saw. You and Brother Thomas had a real connection there, Scully.”

 

“Mulder.” This protest was stronger than her first. Mulder made the turn from the trailing gravel road to the real asphalt and immediately the lingering uneasiness lifted from her shoulders.

 

“Never thought I’d see the day Agent Dana Scully considered sex with a stranger.”

 

“Mulder, stop. It’s not funny. It’s like I was drugged.” 

 

He was silent for a moment. She crossed her arms against herself, feeling uncomfortable under his gaze.

 

“Scully, I’m sorry.”

 

She gave a heavy sigh. They drove in the quiet for a while, trees flashing by out the window against the gray sky. She turned back to Mulder.

 

“For the record,” she said. “I’m not some buttoned up, proper, sexually repressed woman, Mulder.”

 

“Oh?” he asked, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to glance over at her, gauging her expression.

 

“In fact, I think you’d be surprised about some of the things I get up to.”

 

“Agent Scully!” he gasped in mock horror. “Do share.” She could see the way he kept flicking his gaze from her to the road. He genuinely wanted a response. She chuckled.

 

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

 

“C’mon, what would it take?”

 

“Buy me a drink first,” she laughed. “The feed store had good soda.”

 

He paused at a stop sign and turned his head toward her and met her eye. She gave him a tight smile, but she knew it softened as he smiled back.

 

“It’s a deal.”

 


	13. S1 Ep15: Lazarus "Safe"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rated G
> 
> So this is an AU to literally just the last five minutes of the episode because ??? That’s not how Scully’s rescue and the following conversation should have gone down let’s be real.

 

“Scully!” It was the first thing she heard after the gunshot. That was Mulder’s voice. They had found her. At once the room was swarming with people, the sound of boots on the moldy floor. She watched as a team of paramedics surround Lula and Jack’s bodies. Jack was dead. Jack? Dupre? Her head was swimming. Suddenly Mulder was kneeling down in front of her, blocking her body from the scene. She blinked hard and tried to focus.

 

“Scully?” His voice sounded broken, almost a whisper.

 

“I’m okay.”

 

His hand reached out to cup her face, in the same way he had when he had learned of her father’s death. It wasn’t pity. She couldn’t put her finger on what it was. (Loving concern, she might someday admit to herself, but so much more.)  She found herself leaning into his hand.

 

“Let’s get you out of these.” 

 

He freed her wrists from the cuffs and she was able to sit up straight, rubbing the angry red marks they had left behind. Mulder offered a hand and pulled her to her feet. For a moment the room was spinning.

 

“I need something to drink, Mulder,” she said. “Water.”

 

“Yeah. Yeah. Let’s get out of here.”

 

He parted the crowd of officers to lead her out the front door, waving away those whose questions she knew she would have to answer later. How much would she say?

 

“Do you need medical attention?” he suddenly asked. She shook her head.

 

“I’ll get checked out later. I just need to be away from all this for a moment.”

 

He was parked about a half a block down, and there was a half empty water bottle in the back of the car.

 

“We can go get something different,” he offered. “There’s a drug store pretty closeby.” There was almost a smile on his lips with the last sentence, but it faded quickly.

 

“This is fine.” She drank in little sips, slowly coming back to herself. She could feel Mulder’s worry burning into her skin. 

 

“I knew you’d find me,” she said.

 

“The FBI has a lot of resources, and we knew they’d make a mistake eventually. We weren’t going to lose one of our own.” It was false modesty.

 

“I knew  _ you _ would find me,” she repeated. 

 

He took a step closer to her, close enough that she could feel the heat from his body. She could see the fear that was still in his eyes. They watched each other for a silent moment, then she stepped forward into his chest. She could feel the tension melt from his body as he wrapped his arms around her, gently stroking the back of her head.

 

“I’ve got you, Scully.” She knew it was just as much a reassurance to himself as it was to her. 

 

She stood in his arms for a minute, maybe two. Time had lost its meaning. Then she pushed away, clearing her throat.

 

“I need to go give my report,” she said.

 

“I’ll walk you back that way?”

 

“No. I’ll be fine. I’m sure they need you back at the Bureau, and I can get a ride from someone else.”

 

He looked like he was about to protest, but he closed his mouth and gave her a tight nod. As she started her way back to the crime scene, she knew he was still standing at the car door, watching her go. She turned around.

 

“Thank you, Mulder.”

 

“Of course. It’s my job,” he replied, with just a hint of a smile.


	14. S1 Ep17: E.B.E. "Riverside Family Inn"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rated G

That was the first night they slept together.

 

A motel in Washington, a little nicer than where they usually stayed when they were on the FBI’s dime, but this trip was off the books. It was off a back road, south of Mattawa. They had driven until they couldn’t anymore. Scully could only describe the tone of the car ride as “distressed.”

 

“What--” she had gathered herself. “What did you see down there?”

 

“Nothing,” said Mulder. His voice was dripping venom. “Nothing. And I don’t know what to believe.”

 

“He was there, wasn’t he?”

 

“He saved our asses. But he left me with more questions than answers.”

 

The tension in her stomach was enough to make her want to throw up. She was still driving. She could see Mulder’s hands shaking in his lap.

 

“We need to pull over soon.”

 

“There should be a motel up ahead, just off the route.”

 

She pulled off the road into the gravel parking lot of the Riverside Family Inn. The “vacancy” sign was lit, and she sent a silent prayer of thanks. She couldn’t keep going. Muder accompanied her to the front desk. Neither of them had bags with them. It had been too hurried, too dangerous. She was glad they would at least be in a place with a shower.

 

The woman at the front desk seemed to startle upon seeing them. It was later than Scully had realized. The inn was warm and dry, decorated like someone’s home. It radiated the comfort that Scully needed.

 

“You two are lucky. We’ve got just one room left.”

 

“We--” started Scully.

 

“Thank you,” said Mulder. “Pay now or in the morning?”

 

“Either way is fine with me.”

 

The woman showed them to their rooms with a tired smile. Their room. Scully was almost glad for the comfort of not having to separate from her partner. Mulder didn’t seem to mind either. Mulder shut the door behind them as Scully looked around the room. Rustic. Attached bathroom, one she wouldn’t be afraid to use unlike half the places they stayed. A space heater for cool Washington nights. And one bed.

 

They were both adults, but he didn’t even make a joke about it, and it almost worried her. He just sat down on the edge of the bed. He had a lot to think about. They both did.

 

“I’m going to take a shower.” 

 

The water was hot, hot enough that it burned as it streamed down her back. She let it run, breathing in the steam. She hadn’t realized how tense her shoulders were. The hot water helped. She didn’t think the tension would be entirely gone for a long time.

 

She didn’t have anything comfortable to sleep in. Her button down shirt would have to do. She turned the water off and wrapped her hair in a towel before getting dressed. 

 

“Mulder?” she asked, peeking out the bathroom door. He hadn’t moved. “Is it alright with you if I sleep in just my shirt and underwear?”

 

He startled.

 

“Yeah. Yeah, of course.”

 

She finished drying off and made her way to the other side of the bed.

 

“Mulder. You need to sleep.”

 

“Yeah.” His eyes were glazed. His mind was elsewhere.

 

He turned the light off as she crawled into bed and made a move to get in beside her.

 

“Mulder, you can’t sleep in your suit.”

 

“Yeah,” he said again.

He stripped off his shirt and dress pants before finally sliding in. The bed wasn’t large. There was no use denying it. On impulse, Scully reached out and took his hand. It seemed to physically snap him out of whatever was going on in his head. He gripped hers back tightly. 

“Thank you, Scully,” he whispered, his voice rough. She didn’t respond, not with words. She just pulled herself closer. He knew what she needed. He rolled onto his side and pulled her closer. She turned so her back was against his chest. She could feel his heartbeat, sure, steady. The one thing she could trust.

 

He held her tightly. She could tell when he fell asleep because his grip relaxed, just barely. His heartbeat and his steady breathing lulled her to sleep as well. 

 

They were on their own, but at least they had each other. They could talk about what had happened in the morning. 


End file.
